]]>Shifting Workforce Development into High Gearhttps://www.icecommittee.org/uncategorized/shifting-workforce-development-into-high-gear/
Tue, 14 Apr 2015 13:00:19 +0000http://www.icecommittee.org/?p=1978 Workforce development is the next wave of economic development. The overwhelming opinion of the private sector is that businesses grow and prosper where there is a talented, well-suited workforce. Learning to partner with Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) and education to create this workforce is not an option for economic developers; it is a new requirement of the profession. Creating excellent workforce development systems through sector strategies leads to the retention, expansion, and attraction of jobs.

This report summarizes six case studies that profile economic and workforce development organizations that are using innovative and effective practices to improve workforce development outcomes in their communities.

Sectoral employment has emerged as an innovative approach to workforce development in which unemployed and underskilled workers are provided with services and training needed to fill positions in sectors with high growth potential. This report examines the sectoral employment initiative sponsored and managed by the New York City (NYC) Department of Small Business Services (SBS) in partnership with the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO). There are three sector-focused career centers – the Workforce1 Transportation Career Center, the Workforce1 Manufacturing Career Center, and the Workforcee1 Healthcare Career Center. The purpose of the report is to examine the effects of participation in the sector-focused programs on the labor market outcomes of jobseekers after one year.

A region where all young people thrive, and where their talents and drive contribute to the regional economy. That’s our vision for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). But we are facing a harsh reality – as many as 83,000 youth in the GTHA are not in education, employment or training.

While our youth unemployment numbers are high across the board, they are even higher for certain demographics of youth people who face multiple barriers to entry into the workforce. The total youth unemployment rate in Toronto is over 20%, it is almost 25% for aboriginal youth, and nearly 30% for black youth.

There are many hard personal costs to youth unemployment. Lack of self-esteem, lack of dignity, a feeling of hopelessness. But there are hard economic costs too. Studies on other North American jurisdictions estimate that the cumulative lifetime burden to society of youth who aren’t in school or working is $1 million per youth.

The benefits of youth landing a job are substantial. For our target youth, employment offering meaningful work can be a ticket out of difficult situations and can change their trajectory.

]]>Moving Forward Together: An Employer Perspective on the Design of Skills Training Programs in Ontariohttps://www.icecommittee.org/reports/moving-forward-together-an-employer-perspective-on-the-design-of-skills-training-programs-in-ontario/
Mon, 22 Sep 2014 19:20:14 +0000http://www.icecommittee.org/?p=1915This report presents the business perspective on the steps the Government of Ontario can take as it evolves the province’s suite of training and employment services. Specifically, this report makes five recommendations that, if taken, will go a long way in ensuring employer-driven training and employment programs, such as the Canada-Ontario Job Grant, are a success.

Throughout our research process, we found that despite falling behind their international peers when it comes to investing in the skills of their employees, Ontario employers are interested and willing to participate in revamped training programs. However, current employee training in Ontario is heavily concentrated among large firms and within certain, often regulated, industries. In fact, there is little substantive training being performed by small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Employers are not training due to a couple of key factors, including cost, risk of turnover and ‘poaching’, and a lack of human resource capacity. The success of employer-driven training programs is contingent on employer engagement. It is vital that government design training and employment programs so that they overcome these barriers. Training and employment programs should be easy to access for businesses, offer flexible training options to the workers who need it, and make room for not-for-profit and private service providers to play an intermediary role in the new training and employment system.

Similarly, employers need to get more engaged in building the skills of their employees. Ontario’s population is aging and our workforce is shrinking. Some 28 percent of OCC members are having trouble filling job vacancies. Yet, unemployment levels are stubbornly high.

These recommendations are a product of extensive consultation with employers throughout the province. In Spring 2014, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) and Essential Skills Ontario (ESO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, travelled across the province and met with employers of all sizes, as well as representatives from postsecondary and training institutions.

While the global recession placed significant pressure on the Canadian economy, the impact was mild compared to other OECD countries. That said, growth remains modest, and a number of groups, including the long-term unemployed, youth, women, disabled persons, immigrants and older workers, face a number of barriers to re-entering the labour market. Employment and training policies must continue to seek ways to activate these groups, while promoting economic growth and productivity.

The OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme has developed its reviews on Local Job Creation as an international cross-comparative study examining the contribution of local labour market policy to boosting quality employment and productivity. In Canada, the review has looked at the range of institutions and bodies involved in employment and skills policies. In-depth work was undertaken in Ontario and Quebec, looking at the Thunder Bay, Hamilton, Mauricie and Estrie regions.

In Ontario, employment and training services are delivered by a network of outsourced non-profit organisations through Employment Ontario, which is managed by the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities. They have a critical role in assisting unemployed individuals and connecting them to job opportunities. Workforce Planning Boards bring together a broad range of employment, training, and economic stakeholders to develop local labour market planning information. There is an opportunity in Ontario to enhance and expand the role that these boards can play in developing local strategies which better connect the supply of skills to local employer demand while addressing broader obstacles to employment. Locally-based community colleges provide a number of training programmes, which can be customised to both individuals and employers.

Furthermore, Ontario continues to encourage the growth of its apprenticeships system through the establishment of the College of Trades, which is responsible for curriculum development within the trades, developing common standards and certifications as well as promoting vocational education pathways to youth and adult.

‘Big data’ and ‘analytics’ are watchwords of the present era of information explosion and connectivity. The increased use of big data should help evidence-based decision-making in public and private arenas, provided that the data is accurate, accessible, and used correctly.

Big data can be marshalled into the service of the public good. Building big data into the workflow of decision-making should bring about efficiencies in the planning and delivery of public services.1 One estimate of the potential benefits of the application of big data is a 2.5% to 4.5% in savings in the delivery of public services.2 Among other benefits are greater citizen participation in governance and the stimulation of economic development.

While this emerging and growing field of research and data usage can assist policy makers, it can simultaneously pose challenges as to what data should be made available – the open data question. How to protect privacy, provide security, and how to open up data previously privately or publicly held are other major policy questions arising from the promise of big data.

The rationale for this ‘primer’, then, is to inform policy makers as to the promise of big/open data to help meet public policy objectives, and to identify the issues that ‘open data’ will raise as governments try to leverage big data.

This primer examines the concepts of both big data and open data, and as well, identifies their potential use in addressing public policy challenges. It also explains and emphasizes the importance of big data analytics, which is illustrated by example in several of the case studies considered.

This report focuses on the experiences of those with direct knowledge of the challenges as well as of the supports available: youth and new immigrant job seekers, employment service providers, and employers. A total of 54 individual, semi-structured interviews and two focus groups were held with these individuals. These interviews and focus groups were supplemented by conversations with researchers, experts, and public servants who work on issues of youth and immigrant employment in the GTA. The main objective of this research is to better define the problem, identify successful models that are matching job seekers and available positions, and suggest next steps for governments.